Hundreds mourn 3 slain Pittsburgh police officers Options

[dauss]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...I6_7cAD97EIO600

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Law enforcement officials from as far away as Georgia and Boston gathered Wednesday to pay tribute to three fellow officers killed in the line of duty over the weekend.

Allegheny County police officers led three riderless horses to Pittsburgh's City-County Building, where mourners from the region and a host of police and correction officials visited the bodies of Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo II.

The officers were shot to death Saturday morning while responding to an argument between a mother and her 22-year-old son, who is jailed on homicide charges.

R. Joseph Mason, a motor officer patrolman in Cobb County, Ga., north of Atlanta, drove up in a rental van with five fellow officers.

"We just don't wear uniforms in Cobb County. We wear them all over the country," he said. "And we wear the same uniforms. The band of brothers, the color blue sticks together."

Though he did not expect to meet the officers' families, he said, "There's thousands of people behind them, thousands of officers who love them and care about them."

Sgt. Joe Teahan, of the Boston Police Department, was one of 75 Boston officers and 25 from surrounding departments who will attend Thursday's memorial service. He said police officers are "pretty much a fraternity throughout the country."

"We're showing them that we got their backs," he said. "I think the families see the support from the number of guys here to let them know they're not alone. They know there are other guys out there, much like their husbands or fathers. ... We care."

Jane Bean, a retired counselor for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, made the trip from the suburb of South Park to pay her respects to the fallen officers. Her daughter and son-in-law are police officers in suburban Pittsburgh departments.

"You just admire and honor what they do," Bean said as she fought back tears. "It's time like this you realize how important they are."

Police say Richard Poplawski shot the officers when they arrived at his mother's house Saturday morning after she called 911 to ask them to remove him.

When officers arrived, Margaret Poplawski opened the door for them. She later told police that she didn't know that her son was standing behind her with a gun.

Sciullo was shot in the home and Mayhle on the front stoop. Both men were dead within seconds. Kelly was shot as he arrived to provide backup, prompting a four-hour siege and gun battle with police, authorities said.

Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Authorities said Poplawski was wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle.

Poplawski sustained wounds to his legs and is being held under close observation at the Allegheny County Jail on criminal homicide, attempted homicide and other charges.

Friends have said Poplawski was upset and angry about losing his job a few months ago, feared that President Barack Obama would take away his gun rights and believed Jews controlled the news media. Internet rantings found on a white supremacist Web site indicate Poplawski was preoccupied with the idea that Obama was going to overturn the Second Amendment and that Jews were secretly running the country.

Poplawski's public defender asked a judge on Wednesday to impose a gag order to prevent police from talking about the case. Lisa Middleman said police have disclosed what Poplawski said to them and other information about the case.

A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said prosecutors would remind police not to talk.

Josh Davis, a 27-year-old student from Pittsburgh, waited outside the City-County Building several hours before doors opened to the public. He shook hands with officers and thanked them for their service.

"They put their lives on the line," he said. "(They) go through hell for us."

[cmac]

i'm not blaming the guns entirely.

again. if you are a responsible gun owner, i think that is fantastic. my argument does not pertain to said type of person.

i am attacking people that are not responsible gun owners, and i feels as if this is common.

but, i think that it needs to start with gun control. if even a little. i'm not suggesting banning them entirely because that is unfeasible. if i had my choice, i would, but it's not practical.

i don't feel as if you can trust people to take mandatory courses or even then implement the things taught in these courses.
but even then, harsher punishment for parents in situations below, more gun training or mandatory gun training.

i see the chances or a car accident the same as a flood coming.....

how many robberies or murders take place at 1000 yards? How about a 6'4 275lb dude beating a 5'6 140 lb dude's ass with his bare hands? That's not a fair fight either.

how many robberies take place from behind a convenience store counter? beating someone down with their fists with that counter in between them. 1000 yards / 8 feet. it's all the same. too much power in the hands of someone cowardly.

the following is a 5 minute search. it was even surprising to me how easy it was to find stories of such neglect.
----------------
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/21/forgotten.gun/
Irresponsible

http://www.gunguys.com/?p=393
Pretty sure this article is mocking the stats, but they are stats.

http://www.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/articl...irmingham/68449
Irresponsible.
Resonably large city

http://www.scandalizemyname.com/?p=776
This one explains itself. Shouldn't a certified instructor be considered responsible?

http://www.neahin.org/programs/schoolsafet...cs.htm#children
"one child every three hours; eight children every day; and more than 50 children every week"

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/115448/
8 years old. allowed into a firearms fair... his father stood 10 feet behind him. irresponsible.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3707428.html
gun was in glove compartment. irresponsible

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08240/907149-54.stm
irresponsible parents

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/ww...t.1ceb8faf.html
new orleans. i think that's a big city.

http://www.wftv.com/news/15545824/detail.html
not even 2 years old. irresponsible

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/388155_girl18.html
drinking vodka while cleaning gun. kills 6 year old. irresponsible.

http://www.wapt.com/news/17030444/detail.html
found gun in car. irresponsible.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_saf...ry/1345997.html
irresponsible parents.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/26/nyregion...ister-dies.html
climbed to get gun rack on wall. irresponsible.

http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/1794779.php?
irresponsible parents

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/lynchbu...accident/26638/
13 year old kills 10 year old while hunting alone with father's gun. irresponsible.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...1lwboyshot.html
9 year old kills 11 year old

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ss...ing_shot_i.html
dad cleans gun. 12 year old dies. irresponsible.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/03/...e=mostpop_story
13 year old kills 10 year old brother with father's gun. irresponsible.

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local...M-EHa5DTDw.cspx
12 year old dies from friend bring gun to house to show kids. someone's irresponsible.

http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/news/8495...others-gun.html
4 year old shoots himself in face with mother's gun. irresponsible.

http://www.trulyfe.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1046647

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/apr/...pparent-gunsho/

[FORSAKENR320]

i'm not blaming the guns entirely.

i am attacking people that are not responsible gun owners, and i feels as if this is common.

but, i think that it needs to start with gun control.

and.... why can't it start with the irresponsible gun owners?




there is a very very key difference to what you want and reality. you're talking about preventive measures, i know. but our legal system is based on consequence, not suspicion. you are violating a very large portion of american freedom by assuming that everyone is guilty before being proven innocent. you wish to punish all citizens so that you can catch the few bad seeds. it's alot like setting your house on fire because you have an annoying fly in the house.

the system is pretty simple cmac. you fuck up, you suffer the consequences. obey the laws, and you're fine



what you want is for everyone to obey the laws, and also suffer the consequences